


13 Millimeters Per Second

by TheInsomniacTree (WalrusofDestiny)



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Comedy, F/F, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-07 11:29:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16407656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WalrusofDestiny/pseuds/TheInsomniacTree
Summary: Ruby Rose is a firm believer in friendship. So when she's partnered with Weiss Schnee, Beacon's resident friendless rich snob, for their third year of high school, she makes a dedicated vow to show Weiss the joys of having a friend. The fact that she thinks Weiss Schnee is also absolutely stunning has almost nothing to do with her decision. Probably.





	1. Icebreakers

Ruby Rose walked with a bounce in her step. The step was multi-purpose: it made her bang brush along her forehead which was a nice feeling, it conveyed the cheery attitude that she always strived to exude, and it gave her a little extra height as she attempted to search for her friend. It was orientation day at their high school. They were getting ID pictures, locker numbers, schedules, the whole affair. While exciting, the fact that every student in their school was flowing through their gymnasium meant that it was rather hard to find anyone, particularly when you were as… vertically-challenged as she was. Years of drinking milk had done very little for her. Despite dairy’s false promises, she managed to catch a glimpse of the blonde hair and general air of defeat that signified her best friend. She quickly weaved through the crowd to get to him.

“Hey, Jaune!”

He looked over to her and smiled weakly. “Hey, Ruby. How was the picture taking?”

“The lady taking it kept saying how no one would take me seriously with dyed hair in an ID,” she said, tugging on one of her red tips. “But other than that, great! How about you?”

Jaune wearily held his ID up for her to see. She had to cap her hand over her mouth to stifle the laughter. Under the name “Jaune Arc” was a picture of him very clearly about to sneeze.

“What, they didn’t let you retake it?” Ruby asked.

“They did! I sneezed three times!”

Ruby doubled over, barely keeping it together. She registered two other people joining them.

“What’s so funny, guys?” Nora asked. “Is Jaune’s photo super lame?”

Jaune showed the photo to Nora and Ren. Nora immediately joined Ruby in being doubled over laughing.

“It’s certainly… memorable,” Ren offered.

Jaune sighed. “Thanks, Ren.”

“Look at it this way, you’ve already used up your bad luck for the year!” Nora said. “You can only go up from here!”

Jaune grimaced. “We’ll see about that. We’ve still got to find out who our partners are, yeah?”

Ruby nodded, and the four of them headed over to the final table in the gymnasium. Beacon High School prided itself on academics, but it was also very much a sports school. A surpising number of Olympians were Beacon alumni, so the sports program had gotten really robust over the years. As such, the school implemented the partner system. Your partner was a student who had the exact same schedule as you. This way, if you were gone on a sports meet, had to take a couple of days off to recover from an injury, or were just getting swamped, you had someone who knew exactly what your workload was and could help you to recover. More importantly, Ruby found it was a brilliant system to make friends. Her partner had been Jaune in their first year, and in second year, his partner had been Ren, who knew Nora, and the four of them had been inseparable since. Her second year partner, Penny, had to transfer at the end of the year, but they still constantly texted. The partner system had only given her  great friends, and she was sure it would be no different this year.

They walked up to the table where the teachers were handing out partner info. Each one of them said their name and were given the appropriate slip of paper. They quickly moved away, into a corner. “Alright, Jaune, you go first,” Nora commanded.

“What, why?”

“The Queen commands it!”

Jaune sighed. “Yes, your Majesty.”

He removed the sticker from the folded piece of paper. “I've got… Pie-ra Nikos?”

“Oh, Pyrrha!” Ruby cheered. “She's on the track and field team with me! She's super nice, you'll get along great! She's the girl who always has the most awards at the end of the meets, Jaune.”

Jaune nodded. He had attended a couple of Ruby’s track meets and vaguely remembered hearing the girl’s name several times. “Well, she’s gotta be super busy, so I’ll make sure to help her out.”

“Oh, no, she’s like, _super_ smart.”

“Oh, so she’ll help me out, even better!”

Nora slapped him on the back. “See! Super smart, super athletic nice girl! Your luck is already coming back around!”

Jaune nodded his head. “We’ll see. Who knows, she might get sick of how dumb and not athletic I am,” he said.

“Aw, that’s depressing. Let’s distract ourselves from thinking about that with my partner announcement!” Nora replied, eagerly tearing her paper open. She stared at it, and her face lit up in a positively beaming expression.

“I got Ren!” she cheered, hugging his arm. “Lady Luck is smiling down on us today!”

“I don’t think it’s quite luck in your case,” Ren mused, also smiling. “Considering you picked all the same electives as me.”

Nora waved her hand. “Semantics. Ruby, you’re up!”

Ruby nodded her head, excited yet anxious to get the name of the person who she would be spending the academic year with. She opened up the paper to the letter that described the purpose, intentions, and etiquette surrounding the partner system and proceeded to ignore all of it, her eyes running down to the bottom of the page, where in large bold lettering was her partner’s name: Weiss Schnee.

Whatever expression was on her face, it must have been rather un-Ruby-like, because she heard Jaune ask, “Uh, wh- who did you get?”

She looked up. “I got Weiss.”

Her friends immediately began to look like she felt: very nervous. “Sorry, Ruby,” Jaune said, rubbing the back of his head. “I guess I stole all your luck.”

Ruby shook her head. “Whaaat? No, it’ll be fine! I mean, I’ve never talked to her before, but I’m sure she isn’t as bad as everyone says.”

“Ruby, she is called the Ice Queen,” Nora said. “Like, when an entire class of non-middle schoolers calls someone a mean nickname, that’s bad.”

“Exactly! She could use a friend! And I, Ruby Rose, am going to be that friend!” she declared, puffing out her chest with pride at her solemn oath.

Her friends shared looks. “Well, if anyone can do it, it’s you, Ruby,” Jaune said.

“And speaking of doing it,” Nora chimed in. “Where do you think Yang and Blake are? I’ve been getting jacked this summer, and I want a rematch.” She emphasized her statement by striking a pose that emphasized her biceps.

Ruby made a face. “Please don’t joke about that,” she said. “I accidentally walked in on them in the living room this summer, and those are some memories of my sister I do _not_ need to revisit.”

Nora made a matching face. “Gross, but still, where are they?”

Ruby checked her phone. “Uh… Yang said she’d meet us at the table on the moss side of the tree in the plaza.”

Nora narrowed her eyes. “So,” she growled, in a raspy voice. “This battle for my destiny will take place before a backdrop of janky moss, just as the ancient scrolls foretold. Onwards, my loyal servants! To battle!” She charged out of the gym, fist outstretched as if carrying the banner of House Valkyrie.

“Y’know, I’m honestly not sure if her personality makes the fact that she’s an Olympic candidate more or less believable,” Jaune mused.

“I’d say more. It’s a position that requires a lot of self-esteem,” Ren said.

“True enough. Well, it’s rude to keep the Queen waiting,” Jaune remarked. “You coming, Ruby?”

Ruby looked up from her phone, closing the article on ‘10 conversation topics literally anyone can discuss’. “Uh yeah, absolutely.”

They walked out into the plaza to see Nora talking animatedly with Blake and Yang. Yang was listening attentively, Blake was not. It was probably workout-related. Blake saw the three of them approach first, and she nudged Yang. Yang looked up and grinned. “There’s my little sister, finally made it to high school. So proud.”

Ruby sighed. “Yang, you make this joke every year. I’m only a year below you.”

“Yeah, a whole year below me. That’s like, three years below me,” she said, patting the seat next to her. Ruby dutifully sat next to her while Jaune and Ren sat on Nora’s side. “Hi, Ruby,” Blake chimed in.

“Hi, Blake,” Ruby responded

“Hi, Ruby’s friends.”

“Hi, Yang’s girlfriend,” they all said back. They were used to not saying each others’ names. None of them saw Blake particularly often, but whenever they did, Yang would always try to convince her she got their names wrong, or vice-versa. So they, in protest, just stopped using names altogether.

Yang, grinning at the mark she had left amongst her social circle, wrapped an arm around Ruby. “So, who’s your partner this year?” she asked.

“Weiss Schnee.”

Blake narrowed her eyes. Yang whistled. “The Ice Queen? No foolin’? That sucks, Rubes. I hear she didn’t even speak to her partner last year.”

“And she’s the daughter of the CEO of the biggest oil and coal mining company in the country,” Blake added. “Just saying, ‘empathy’ probably isn’t on her list of strong suits.”

“It’s not going to be that bad,” Ruby argued. “We’ll be friends in no time. Pyrrha was her partner freshman year, so I’ll just ask her for advice. And she’s my partner, so she’s taking Environmental Studies, which means that she’s at least a little concerned about the environment. So that’s good. It’s going to go great.”

Yang clapped her on the back. “That’s my sister!” She turned to the others. “Ever since she was little, she always _Rose_ to the occasion!”

Ruby sighed, Nora booed, Ren coughed into his hand, Jaune made a face, and Blake lightly rapped Yang on the head with her book. “Aw, c’mon, first pun of the new year!” Yang complained. “You guys could be at least a little appreciative.”

“Of what?” Blake asked. “The loss of brain cells that joke caused in all of us?”

Yang stuck her tongue out at her girlfriend. “Fine, no talking.” She held out her arm to Nora and grinned. “Just action.”

Nora grinned back and clasped her hand. “Now we’re talking! Or… action-ing. Whatever! Let’s arm wrestle!”

 Ren stood up and took his place as the official referee. Once he released his hands, the two went at it. All four of the onlookers looked on with admittedly bated breath as the two remained in a deadlock.

“You’ve gotten stronger, little girl, I’ll give you that,” Yang said through gritted teeth.

“Yeah? You ain’t seen nothing yet, sister,” Nora replied. As the two began to really lean into it, the cheering began. Jaune and Ren cheered for Nora, while Ruby and Blake cheered for Yang.

“C’mon Nora, you’ve got this!”

“Show her the fruits of your summer labor!”

“Don’t lose now, sis!”

 “...”

Blake’s cheer was whispered, something only Yang could hear. Immediately, her eyes lit up, and Nora began to get pushed back towards the table. Nora struggled and held her ground, but it was futile, as Yang eventually slammed her hand to the table. Nora slammed her free hand on the table as well. “That’s bullshit! You had the power of lady boners! Ren! Cheer harder next time!”

“I will attempt to master the art of moral support before your next match,” Ren confirmed. As usual, there was no indication on his face that he had picked up on Nora’s insinuation at all. Ruby giggled to herself. She looked at her friends. Yang was grinning at Blake, who was very specifically looking at her book. Nora was pouting while Jaune and Ren tried to cheer her up. She loved these people. They made her life so much fun. She promised herself that she would get Weiss to join that circle of friends, so that both of their lives would be that much more fun.

* * *

 

As it turns out, however, the feeling of dedication made by the promise and powers of friendship really weren’t good for anything longer than a weekend, because when Monday morning rolled around, Ruby Rose was nothing more than a bundle of nerves. It didn’t help that she was running late either. Yang was the one who took them to school, and both of them had severe morning hang-ups. Ruby took forever to get out of bed, and Yang took forever to do her hair. Not that either of them were particularly punctual despite that anyway. So, as she sprinted across the plaza, thanking her years of track for the thousandth time, she could feel her stomach twist into knots. Maybe she just shouldn’t talk to Weiss today. Yeah, today could just be a recon day. She’d get a feel for the girl, and then come in super strong tomorrow. Yeah, that was it. She had tried to get some info from Pyrrha, but all she had to say about Weiss was that she was “very driven, resourceful, and she didn’t like to trouble anyone with anything”. Considering that Pyrrha literally never said a bad thing about anyone, it probably wasn’t that helpful. So she’d just have to gauge her herself. Which is exactly why she shouldn’t talk to her today. Yep, perfect.

As she settled on her plan-that-was-perfect-and-not-all-because-she-was-scared, she managed to duck into class just as the bell rang. The teacher, Ms. Peach, clapped her hands. “Nice! Love the passion,” she said, glancing at a piece of paper on her desk. “So that makes you… Ruby Rose! Welcome to class.”

Ruby nodded her head, her face red both from the exercise and the embarrassment. Blake had told her that Ms. Peach was pretty cool, so she was glad it seemed she hadn’t made a bad first impression.

“Alright, so, normally I like to just get right into it, but it’s the first day of school, and, hopefully, none of us have had to wake up this early for three months. I don’t want to just start lecturing when we’re all tired, so I’m going to give us a little transition period. For the next 10 minutes, get to know your partner. Just relax and talk. Sound good?”

Nevermind, Ms. Peach was not cool. She was a traitor. In an instant, she had destroyed the plan that Ruby had spent 30 seconds meticulously crafting. Chairs scraped across the floor as students began to get up and shuffle about to sit next to their partners. Ruby silently got up and slowly walked to the corner of the room, where Weiss Schnee was sitting. She hadn’t even made an effort to look up or move, but that made sense. If they both got up, they would both need to find seats. Weiss was just saving some effort. Yeah. She sat down next to her, and turned to give a very quick greeting, but even though she opened her mouth, words didn’t come out.

Ruby had never really seen Weiss Schnee up close before, but she realized she was starting to regret it. Weiss Schnee was _very_ pretty. Like, the kind of pretty that mere mortals could never hope to achieve. The kind of pretty that was the ultimate combination of natural looks and the finest skincare and makeup that being rich could offer. Like, if they were in an 80’s movie, Weiss would be the one pretty, popular girl who homely Ruby had to beat to in the school fashion show for whatever reason, and she would undergo this massive transformation and be super super pretty, but then she would still lose, because, holy fuck, Weiss Schnee was just that pretty. Oh god, now Weiss Schnee was super pretty and also looking at her. “Can you stop staring at me? Thanks,” she said, immediately turning back to her phone.

Oh god, that was embarrassing. She had been staring at her like a total creeper. Now how was she supposed to start a conversation? “Hey, sorry about that, I’m just gay”? Yeah, that would go great. Time to fall back to Plan A.

Plan A worked well for about a minute. But then Ms. Peach ruined it yet again by glancing over at them. Ruby immediately realized how much the two of them stuck out. Everyone else was, however awkwardly, actually speaking to each other. Ms. Peach probably thought she was super anti-social or something. She wasn’t! She was just… Shy? Scared? Gay? God dammit.

“So, Weiss,” Ruby blurted out, before her mind could regain its bearings enough to tell her talking was an awful idea.

Weiss immediately turned to look at her again, looking more irritated. “Can I help you?”

“Uh, y’know, I was just thinking that we should, uhh, y’know, chat. Y’know, just two gals, spinning a yarn,” Ruby said, motioning her hands like she was knitting and deeply regretting it. She always liked to do something with her hands, but dear god why did they have to do that?

Weiss raised a perfectly done eyebrow at her. “I don't knit, sorry.” 

“Really? I don't either, what a coincidence! So what else do you not do?”

Weiss looked her dead in the eyes. “I don’t make small talk, for starters.”

“Oh yeah, totally,” Ruby agreed, only continuing to talk because she sincerely believed she might die of embarrassment and that frankly seemed like the best way out of the situation. “I mean, who cares about the weather, right? Ol’ Ruby Rose doesn't. I'm Ruby Rose, by the way. I mean, I'm sure you knew that, but I felt like it would be rude to not introduce my-”

“Look, is there something you want from me?” Weiss interrupted. “Because if there isn't, I would really appreciate it if you stopped talking.”

At this point, Ruby knew she was doing more harm than good. Her adorkable charm had failed to work. That's why she had to rely on someone more experienced. She decided to bust out Taiyang Xiao Long’s Ultimate Guaranteed-to-Work Super Genius Icebreaker™.

“Would you take a million dollars if it meant that a snail assassin was chasing after you for the rest of your life?”

Weiss stared at her blankly for a second, trying to figure out what was just said. Ruby stared back, trying to burn Weiss Schnee’s heavenly face into her memory before she took out a restraining order.

“I'm sorry, what did you say?” Weiss asked, pure confusion etched across her face.

“Somebody gives you a million dollars, but then they set a snail assassin after you for the rest of your life.”

“How on _Earth_ could a snail possibly kill me?”

“The snail is…” Ruby paused for a moment. She hadn’t expected to get this far. “A genetically altered super soldier snail, yeah. Some scientist guys are paying you to test out their new bioweapon. It secretes a substance that instantly kills you if it touches you. It doesn't need sleep, and it always knows where you are, so it's always coming after you.”

“That is… completely stupid,” Weiss stated, and turned to her phone.

Ruby sighed. Well, she tried. Guess she should just get used to being ignored. She had a whole nine months of-

“13 millimeters per second.” Weiss declared.

“What?”

“The average snail moves at a rate of 13 millimeters per second. The contiguous United States is roughly 2800 miles long, and that’s not even considering the additional vertical distance of hills and valleys. So…” she punched some more numbers into her phone, clearly doing some calculations. “Assuming the snail _never_ stops moving, it takes 11 years for it to cross the entire country, and that’s being extremely generous. So the smart thing to do is use the million dollars to buy two cheap houses, one on the East Coast and another on the West Coast, and then move between the two every 11 years, and rent the other out while you aren’t using it. There is literally no reason.to not accept this deal. It’s an excellent break into the real estate business at the minor expense of moving between two cities every decade or so.”

Ruby was stunned, for a variety of reasons. She realized, however, that Weiss had finished talking, and she needed to keep this conversation going.

“Yeah but I mean, moving your career every 11 years seems kind of rough, right? Like, ‘Sorry, sir, have to quit because there’s this murderous snail after me. Mind hiring me again in a decade or so?’ Seems like that would be difficult.”

Weiss scoffed. “Ruby, please. This is the virtual age. Most businesses can be managed without physical interaction. My father handles our international industry quite well from his office at home.” She flipped her ponytail, clearly quite pleased with herself.

“Okay,” Ruby said, trying to contain her pleasure that Weiss had actually said her name. “You know more about that stuff than I do, but still, it might not be 10 years, like what if the snail takes an airplane?”

“What, the snail has a credit card? Or is it using miles?” she asked. Ruby could practically taste the sarcasm.

“It could sneak onto the plane!”

Weiss scoffed again. “Sneak on? What, can the snail read airline directories? Just crawl its way to the proper gate and stow away in someone’s purse? That’s utterly ridiculous.”

Ruby was tempted to point out that the concept of a super soldier snail was, in and of itself, utterly ridiculous, but she felt that might end the conversation. “Well, okay, I guess snails can’t really read or anything, but still they could, uh…”

“The snail could do nothing,” Weiss insisted. “There is no reason to not take the million dollars. My argument is flawless.”

“Well, I mean, it is just a hypothetical, Weiss, there’s not really a right answer. Or an argument.”

“Well, maybe that was true five minutes ago,” Weiss declared. “But not anymore. You’re welcome.”

 “Um… thank you?”

Weiss nodded and turned back to her phone triumphantly. Ruby leaned back in her chair. The conversation was over, but rather than feel awkward and nervous, Ruby only felt contemplative. She personally couldn’t imagine moving across the country every decade. Leaving every friend behind, never having any permanence, it sounded awful. Weiss, on the other hand, seemed to think nothing of it. But it’s not like she was heartless. She was, at the very least, willing to have a serious discussion about the viability of super soldier snail assassins. For whatever it was worth, Weiss Schnee was the kind of girl to Google snail speeds to “win” a hypothetical question. She seemed to think of everything in terms of financial gain, so its not like she took wealth for granted. Based on all that, Ruby didn’t think that Weiss was really… well, she wasn’t… Ruby didn’t know what Weiss was. But she wasn’t the icy fortress everyone thought she was. And Ruby, now more than ever, was determined to prove that.

“Hey, Weiss. Wanna eat lunch together?”

“Absolutely not.”

Alright. She was still an icy fortress, but not absolute zero. That was something, at least. She just had to think of herself as a snail assassin. It was slow going, but she’d absolutely get to her target. Her extremely attractive target. It was going to be a very long year.


	2. Pyrrha Nikos is the Real MVP

Pyrrha Nikos looked at the clock apprehensively. It was 7:40. Class started at 8. She looked down at her desk, with all of her supplies neatly sorted out already. Okay, maybe she was a little early. It’s not like she could help it. It was the first day! She didn’t want to risk something happening on the bus. If it had broken down that might have been a 30 minute delay. It would’ve been so disrespectful to the teacher to be late on the first day, not to mention it would have made an awful first impression on her classmates. And her partner.

She wondered what Jaune was like. Ruby had sworn up and down that he was kind and funny, but she saw the best in everybody, so who knows how accurate that was. LOTS of people were “kind and funny” when they wanted to be. Saying that was quite rude, but it was true. Certainly, people around her were constantly “kind and funny”, especially after she had been on TV. Win a few races, break a few records, and people start talking about the Olympics. And then Gatorade reaches out to you for a commercial, because they want to appeal to the youth, and suddenly everyone’s being extremely “kind and funny”. Not that she was bitter. And while it was exceptionally rude to Jaune to assume things about him, she could not deny that she had a sinking feeling that he wouldn’t be any different.

She looked at Ruby’s last text to her: _He’s the human manifestation of a cat left out in the rain. Trust me, you’ll KNOW when you see Jaune Arc._

She didn’t know what that meant exactly, but she didn’t have time to ponder it as she heard sneakers squeak in the hallway. She looked up to see a boy enter into the room, clearly quite tired. Shambling in, he kicked one of the desks on accident. Immediately snapping out of his sleepy stupor, he turned to the desk. “I’m really sorry about tha-” He stopped, and blinked a few times, seemingly realizing that he was, in fact, apologizing to a desk. He turned to look at her, smiling sheepishly. “Uh, if you could, uh, forget you saw that, I’d really appreciate it.”

Ah. So this is what Ruby meant. Before she could stop herself, she chuckled. “Consider it forgotten. You’re Jaune, right? I’m Pyrrha, pleased to meet you.”

“Oh geez, talk about a lousy first impression,” Jaune joked, as he shifted the desk back into place. “But yeah, pleasure’s all mine.”

He walked over and sat down in the desk next to hers. Pyrrha silently waited for it. The questions. What was it like being a famous athlete? What Olympics will you compete in? Do you think I could get a discount on Gatorade since we’re friends? All of those questions of course, followed by the dreaded “I bet you get asked that a lot, huh?” She braced herself for impact.

“So, uh, whatcha doing here so early?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Well, I mean, y’know, it’s just that, I’m only here this early because my dad has to drop all of us off, and it just so happens that I need to be dropped off now if everyone else wants to get to school on time, so, I was just wondering if there was a special reason for you too.”

“Oh, well, no,” Pyrrha admitted. “I just didn’t want to be late.”

Jaune nodded. “Good call. Missing one minute in Oobleck’s class is liking missing thirty anywhere else.”

Pyrrha giggled again. “So I’ve heard. You’ve had him then?”

“Yeah, last year. It was brutal. I know that you have your hands full with being on the track team, but I am going to be, like, zero help in this class. I’m really sorry about that.”

“Think nothing of it,” Pyrrha replied automatically, her mind whirring. He had only mentioned the track team, and he didn’t seem particularly starstruck. Was it possible that he didn’t know anything about her? At the risk of sounding narcissistic, she had to be sure. “So, Jaune, what do you like to watch on TV?”

“Oh, well, uh, between my dad watching sports and my sisters watching their soaps, I don’t really get any time on the TV, so I don’t really watch any. I like superhero and fantasy shows a lot though. Watch them on Netflix so I don’t have to see any commercials.”

Pyrrha did everything she could to not squeal. “I see. I don’t watch any shows myself, so I was curious. Track and field keeps me busy, and I’ll admit, it can be a little intimidating. “

“Right?! Like, there are so many shows to watch, and then, you know, by the time people are recommending a show to you, it already has a bajillion seasons, and it’s just too much. Speaking of which, you should TOTALLY watch Huntsman.”

Pyrrha laughed. “And how many seasons does that have?”

“Only 2! Comparatively, it’s pretty short.”

“Well, I think even one season is too much for my current schedule, so you’ll have to do a pretty good job of convincing me.”

“Challenge accepted,” Jaune said, glancing at the clock. “Alright, so, the really cool thing about Huntsman is…”

For the next few minutes, Pyrrha simply sat and listened as Jaune raved about his favorite show. She basked in the normalcy of it. Here she was, just sitting down and talking with a classmate (a cute boy, even!) with no mention of her running times or TV appearances, just his favorite show. He didn’t hang on her every word, he didn’t think that her training schedule occupied her entire life (it certainly was rigorous, but she still had her free time, not that anyone seemed to know that), he was just talking to her. She barely noticed the aside glances she got from the rest of the class as it began to shuffle in. Neither did Jaune. She was fairly certain that he had spoiled most of the first season in talking to her about it, but she didn’t particularly mind.

Her peaceful conversation was abruptly ended by the speeding figure of Doctor Oobleck, entering the class roughly 30 seconds before the bell rang. “Alright, settle down now class! We’ll start once the bell rings.”

“Shit,” Jaune muttered, hastily pulling his supplies out of his bag. Pyrrha pondered why the rush. As the bell rang, Oobleck took a sip from his mug. As soon as it stopped, he spoke again.

“GoodmorningclassmynameisDoctorOobleckandIwillbeadressedassuchIdidn’tearnthisPhDfornothingthankyouverymuchbutthatisitforintroductionsweshallnowbeginbecausehistoryonlygetslongereachdaythereforethereisnotimetodawdlehoweverasthisisthefirstdayIshallgiveyouallabriefmomenttoturntopage16.”

Pyrrha wasn’t quite sure if she should be impressed or horrified. “Alright, here we go,” Jaune grumbled. He turned to Pyrrha and smiled. “Best of luck, Pyrrha.”

She smiled back. “Best of luck to you as well.”

* * *

 “How are you feeling, Pyrrha?” Jaune groaned as they walked out of class. “Are you dead yet? Because I’m dead.”

“I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting the first class of the year to be quite so intense,” Pyrrha agreed.

“Right?! Oobleck is insane! I can barely keep up in history even when it isn’t being taught at mach five!”

Pyrrha laughed. “Well, it certainly does speak for Dr. Oobleck’s passion for the subject, at least.”

“I wish he were more passionate about decafe,” Jaune grumbled. “Like this, I’m just going to have to bust out my Oobleck study technique even earlier than I thought.”

“Oh, and what’s the technique?”

“”Pray that the half of the lecture I couldn’t pay attention to isn’t on the test.”

“Well, if you’re content for prayer, I won’t stop you, but you could just borrow my notes if you’d like?”

Jaune groaned. Pyrrha panicked.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to offend you or-”

“Oh, no! No, you’re great Pyrrha, thank you so much. It’s just that I hate that I’m already dead weight and we're not even two hours in.”

“Well, I hardly think you’re dead weight,” Pyrrha said. Truth be told, his existence made her incredibly happy, but, as they had known each other for roughly two hours, she refrained from mentioning that part. “I’m sure that I’ll be having trouble in Creative Writing, so you can help me there, how about that?”

Jaune’s eyes lit up. “Wait, do we have Creative Writing next?”

“Erm, yes, did you not look at the schedule?”

“Oh no, I saw that I had Oobleck first thing in the morning and then I cried myself to sleep.”

Pyrrha genuinely couldn’t tell if he was joking.

* * *

 “First lunch break! You did well to make it this far, loyal knight! Your service shall be rewarded!”

Pyrrha jumped slightly as Jaune was tackled from behind. Jaune stumbled but the girl who tackled him lifted him off his feet before he could fall.

“Nora, Ms. Goodwitch made it quite clear that if you demanded free cookies for your friends one more time, she’d ban us from the cafeteria,” the boy behind her commented.

“But, Reeen! This was at Sir Ruby’s request! What sort of queen doesn’t care for her people?!”

“You’ve been on this ‘queen’ kick for a couple of days, huh Nora?”

“She binge-watched that new medieval drama that just came out,: Ren explained.

“Uh, no, _we_ binge-watched it, Ren.”

“Technically yes, but I fell asleep for most of it,” Ren replied. Pyrrha found it concerning that he seemed almost proud of that.

“I'm proud of you, Ren," Jaune remarked sarcastically. "Anyway, you guys, this is Pyrrha, my partner. She’s a star athlete and super smart, not to mention super generous with notes, so I’m sure you guys will enjoy how bad I look in comparison. Pyrrha, this is Nora and Ren. I feel like you’ll get along with Ren, and Nora will force you to get along with her regardless, so yeah.”

Nora nodded. “I am _excruciatingly_ friendly.” Pyrrha found it very concerning that she made it sound like a threat.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Pyrrha,” Ren said, holding out his hand.

Pyrrha smiled and shook it. “The pleasure’s all mine, thank you.”

Nora groaned. “Are you ladies done with your business meeting yet? I wanna get to our table before some freshmen think they can sit there.”

“Patience is a virtue, Nora,” Ren chided.

“While there’s gonna be virtually no seats left if we don’t get our rears in gear!”

“Nice one,” Jaune said.

“Thank you, Jaune! See Ren, how come you’re never that supportive of me?”

“Because I don’t love you like he does,” Ren quoted.

Pyrrha watched as something inexplicable flitted across Nora’s face. Interesting. Before she could think on it further, Nora was back to normal. “6 out of 10, could have used a sassier delivery. You should leave the memes to me, Ren.”

“Understood, meme captain,” Ren deadpanned.

“Yeah, I’m really sorry about them, Pyrrha.”

Pyrrha laughed. She seemed to be doing that a lot today. She could get used to it. “Don’t be. You both seem lovely.”

“Thanks, Grandma Pyrrha, now c’mon, slow pokes, let’s go,” Nora said, pushing Pyrrha and Jaune down the hallway. Pyrrha was slightly frightened by the ease with which she moved them. “I don’t want to have to to break a freshman’s leg again.”

Pyrrha looked at Jaune. “She’s joking,” he assured her. “I think. Ren?”

“She’s joking,” Ren confirmed.

As they were moving forward, Jaune looked at her. “So, I know Nora’s literally pushing us towards the cafeteria, but you don’t have to eat with us if you don’t want.”

Pyrrha mentally groaned. Everyone said that. Everyone assumed that she had something infinitely better to do than eat lunch with them. When she did eat lunch with others, they all thanked her for it, as if she were humoring them, as if she simply didn’t want to eat lunch with friends. But maybe this time would be different. Hopefully, this time would be different. She smiled full force. “Oh no! I really would like to get to know the three of you better.”

“Yeah, Jaune, duh. Unlike you, the rest of us are interesting.”

Jaune twisted his head to glare at Nora. “I swear to God, I am killing Thorna this weekend.”

Nora snorted. “You can fucking try.”

Pyrrha was starting to wonder if she’d ever understand what these three were saying at any given time. “Erm…”

“Oh! Uh, we play DnD on the weekends. Thorna is Nora’s character.”

“Level 17 Barbarian, Path of the Storm Herald. Literally shoots lightning from her body. Basically unkillable. She’s a total badass,” Nora bragged.

“DnD?”

“Oh, uh, Dungeons and Dragons,” Jaune replied sheepishly, scratching his neck. “Y’know, that game nerds with braces play with dice and paper.”

“None of us have braces,” Ren objected.

“Yeah, Ren, Ruby, and I aren’t nerds either,” Nora argued.

“Nothing for me, huh?”

“What do you want from me, Jaune? You play DnD. That’s pretty nerdy.”

As they were pushed into the cafeteria, Jaune opened his mouth as if to object to the clear logical fallacy but after a moment, he merely sighed and closed it again. Pyrrha moved to pat him on the shoulder. He seemed like he could use it. She hesitated. Was it alright to do that? She and Jaune were merely acquaintances, would he even be comfortable with physical contact? Granted, he was friends with Nora, who was literally pushing her forward, so he was probably fine with it. She decided to do it. Pyrrha reached out and patted Jaune’s shoulder. He turned and smiled at her. She couldn’t help but notice that Jaune had a very nice smile.

“Thanks, Pyrrha,” he said.

“Pyrrha, don’t actually be nice to him, then I’ll start to feel like I’m actually being mean,” Nora complained.

“Face it, Nora, you’re just a bully,” Jaune teased.

“What, no! I’m not a bully, I’m the quirky, lovable one! Ren, react in slight amusement at my quirkiness!” Nora demanded.

Ren gave her a quiet half-smile.

“See? Quirky and lovable. Definitely not a bully.”

“Is Nora trying to claim my status as the quirky, lovable one?” Ruby asked. Pyrrha turned and saw her trackmate sitting alone at one of the smaller tables. “Because I’m lovable as heckin’ heck. See that? I don’t even like to swear. Boom. Instantly endearing.”

“I’ll give you that,” Nora growled, leaning in. “You are extremely endearing and lovable. Like I wouldn’t mind hugging you forever. But quirky? Sister, I quirk _circles_ around you.”

“Oh yeah? Because I started a conversation with Weiss Schnee about snail assassins. I dare you to out-quirk that.”

Nora paused. “Alright. You win. I can’t out-quirk that. But clearly not even maximum quirky lovability can get the Ice Queen to thaw out,” she said, gesturing to the otherwise empty table.

“I’ll admit, my usual charms were fruitless, but hey, I’ll get her to eat lunch with me soon,” Ruby declared. “That’s a Ruby Rose promise. And when have I ever broken a Ruby Rose promise?”

“Ruby, we’ve been friends for all of high school,” Jaune reminded her as he took his seat. “Is this really how you want me to kill you? With enough receipts to make you a paper mache coffin?”

“Please don’t. I’m sorry. I just wanted to impress Pyrrha,” Ruby begged.

“You don’t have to worry about that Ruby. I think you’re very impressive, and I’m not just talking about athletics,” Pyrrha consoled her as she sat down. She noticed that Jaune had taken a seat two away from Ruby, meaning she could sit between them. Really, he was so thoughtful. “To be able to hold a conversation with Weiss is impressive. She values efficiency, so she can come off as quite stand-offish. It’s certainly not through any fault of your own that she doesn’t want to eat lunch with you, I’m sure.”

Truth be told, as far as she was aware, Weiss Schnee didn’t care for anyone or anything unless it had some practical (preferably financial) gain for her. She didn’t think the girl made any effort to talk to her until after she had done that Gatorade commercial over winter break of their freshman year. Her only concern was being the best and knowing the best people. But she didn’t say that. It would be rude to throw Weiss under the bus when Ruby was trying so hard to get to know her. Even Weiss deserved a chance at friendship. Just, preferably not when Pyrrha was around. Weiss looked at her like one might look at a coveted trophy. She didn’t like it.

“I mean, I get that she’s got herself all handled,” Ruby mused. “Everything she does screams high self-esteem, but like, I dunno, I can’t imagine living a life without friends. I mean, maybe I’m projecting but I just want her to see how much fun eating lunch with friends is. I just need to figure out how to get her here.”

Nora raised her hand.

“I want her to be here willingly, Nora.”

“Well, say that before I get my hopes up then,” Nora grumbled, putting down her hand. “There are so many wrestling holds that could work on her, I’m just throwing it out there.”

Jaune coughed, laughing. “Just, just fuckin’ power bomb Weiss Schnee through a cafeteria table.”

Pyrrha covered her mouth to disguise the smile she got from the idea.

Ruby cracked a smile as well, but threw him a look regardless. “See, this is sort of anti-Weiss rhetoric is exactly why she’s friendless. I declare that, from this point on, we are a pro-Weiss table. At this table, we love and support Weiss Schnee.”

“We don’t even know Weiss Schnee, Ruby,” Ren pointed out.

“I’ll fix that,” Ruby declared. “Just you wait, by this time next week, Weiss will know all of us and think we’re all super cool.”

* * *

 Weiss wasn’t entirely sure who her partner was, but she did know she didn’t like her. Well, that wasn’t true. Technically, she knew her partner’s name was Ruby Rose. But surely there was more to it than that. Surely, there was some family business, company, some form of prestige, some kind of background that explained the ludicrous confidence Ruby Rose had, because holy shit, Ruby Rose did not. Shut. Up.

For five straight days, Weiss had provided the most withering glares and cold shoulders she could muster, to which Ruby, in return, offered the most incessant babbling she (hopefully) could muster. For five straight days, Weiss’ rapt focus was put to the test by side comments, doodles, questions ranging from personal (“Hey Weiss, what’s your favorite dessert?”) to downright inane (“Hey Weiss, do you think dolphins ever do speed dating? Like, they’re people smart, so I feel like they might.”), and worst of all, the companionship. For five straight days, the peaceful island that was her desk was regularly disrupted by Ruby. She was Weiss Schnee. She was at her best when she was alone, because she was the best. Anyone else could only drag her down. Not that Ruby Rose seemed to know or care.

The worst part of it was, despite the art of nuance and subtlety clearly being lost on Ruby, Weiss still couldn’t quite figure out what Ruby’s endgame was. Obviously, she was one of the countless layabouts who attempted to befriend her in order to ride on her coattails, to get inside the company’s good graces. However, those people generally had something to their names. Some sad little mom and pop store or chain restaurant or whatever. Ruby Rose had, as of yet, not given her any indication that she was anything more than some commoner. Which invited two possibilities: either Ruby was from high standing, and she was merely that good at hiding it, which made Weiss furious because it meant she was being outwitted, or that Ruby was actually just some common girl, which also made Weiss furious because who the hell did she think she was, taking up Weiss’s precious time and focus with her poor person blathering?

Weiss comforted herself with the thought, that, no matter what angle or train of thought you took, it was undeniable that Ruby Rose was infuriating. So by the time Friday rolled around, Weiss Schnee realized she was glad for the weekend, if only to be away from Ruby’s exhausting presence. That thought also made her furious. Her? Happy to not be in school? If the one place where she excelled, where she could sit back and rightfully feel peerless was taken from her, what else did she have? It was all Ruby’s fault. Everything could and would be blamed on her insipid partner.

“Hey Weiss, wanna eat lunch with us?”

If Weiss weren’t a proper lady, she might’ve stabbed Ruby through the ear with her pen. Instead, she smiled her most sickeningly condescending smile. “Ruby, do you remember my answer to that question from Monday?”

She saw Ruby deflate a little bit. Good. Get the fucking hint. “Yes…”

“And my answer to the same question on Tuesday? And Wednesday? And Thursday?”

“Yes…” Ruby sank lower into her chair. Weiss wondered if it was possible to bury someone alive via venomous words. Well, it was certainly worth a try.

“So how, given the pattern recognition that even the dumbest of animals possess, do you think that my answer’s going to be different today?”

“Alright, alright, I get it.” As Weiss returned to her notes, triumphant, she heard Ruby to mutter herself, “I don’t get what you’re so scared of, it’s not like we’re gonna bite you.”

Weiss almost snapped her neck, such was the speed she turned to glare at Ruby, who looked at her, shocked. “I’m not scared of you,” she argued. “If anything, you should be scared of me. I could personally buy this school, and then specifically expel only you, Ruby. And honestly? I have half a mind to do that.”

Ruby put a hand over her heart. “Weiss, you’d buy the school just for me? That’s so sweet!”

Weiss, not for the first time in her life, wished aristocratic duels were still a thing. Her life would be so much easier that way. Some people just deserved a rapier through their throat. Ruby deserved several.

“But if you’re not scared, then why don’t you wanna eat with me? What do you have going on that’s so much more important than spending time with your favorite partner?”

Weiss puffed out her chest. “I’m glad you asked. Unlike you, I take my academics seriously. I use the lunch period to review my notes.”

Ruby snorted. Weiss immediately glared at her. “Is something the matter, Ruby?”

“No, it’s just, you’re already super smart, but you use the brief time we spend not studying in school to… keep studying? It just seems… I dunno, like it’s a waste of time?”

“Oh, and because you’re the model of efficiency, you know something better to do with your time?” she snapped.

“I dunno, Weiss, I feel like networking is pretty important. Y’know, learning social skills and stuff, promoting synergy…”

Weiss leaned towards Ruby. She took a brief mental note that Ruby was actually her height, and therefore she could pull off the intimidating stare much better. “I have trained my whole life in proper etiquette and conversation. I promise you, Ruby Rose, I am far better socially than you or your friends.”

Ruby sighed. “Well, if that’s how you’re going to be, then I suppose I’ll take my business elsewhere.”

“HA!” Weiss cheered. Ruby (and several others in the hallway) jumped. “So you DID have some sort of business you were trying to sell me!”

“Uh, no? I mean my dad’s a mechanic, but that was mostly just to make a point. Like, if I did want to be a business partner, your attitude has kinda shut that off right now. Not very synergistic of you, I must say.”

Weiss wondered if there was an elegant way to bare-handedly beat someone into the ground. When she came to the conclusion that there wasn’t, she wondered if elegance was even worth it. But she cast away those oh-so tempting thoughts. “Well, I can certainly promise you, Ruby, if I did lose a business prospect, it certainly wasn’t one worth having.”

* * *

  “Man, I know that it’s just the weekend, but still, I’m super excited to have another taste of not being in school,” Jaune said, as they were walking down the hall.

Pyrrha smiled. “Aw, don’t say that. I’m positive that Ms. Lavender is going to miss you, if her reaction to your short story was any indication.”

“Hey that was our short story,” Jaune argued. “You’re the one who gave me the idea.”

“No, I suggested ‘a race through time’, because I thought the idea of running through a landscape that went from dinosaurs to futuristic skyscrapers was neat. You then, based on those words,  proceeded to think up a gripping narrative about a man who wakes up to find that, whenever he moves, time moves exponentially faster, so he has to quickly find a way to get help while he watches humanity rapidly change around him, eventually deciding that he’d rather spend his years in one place, both physically and chronologically. It was your story, Jaune.”

“Well, I mean, ok sure, but that’s only because your idea works way better as like, an animation. Your idea was super cool and awesome, and I just made up some depressing Twilight Zone stuff, that wasn’t even that original. I got the concept from a VR game Ruby showed me over summer. It’s this super cool game where time doesn’t move until you do, so you have to stay stock still until you’ve figured out the optimal moves to make. It’s super intense.”

Pyrrha mentally sighed. She had learned a number of things about Jaune over this week: 1) he was not a very good student, b) he was an incredibly creative person who loved to create stories, c) the reason he wasn’t a good student, was because, from what she had determined, he couldn’t focus very well, presumably because most of his mental space was occupied by daydreams of epic narratives. While she had chided him for it on several occasions, she had to admit, she didn’t do it as often as she could. When Jaune tucked his hands under his desk, slashing his pen in some imaginary duel, or wringing his hands like some melodramatic villain, it looked like he was having the most fun he would have all day, and Pyrrha was loathe to interrupt him. He looked so cute. She was losing focus. Jaune also had the rather unfortunate combination of low self-esteem and a genuinely kind attitude. He could deflect literally any form of praise given to him onto somebody else. However, he made one miscalculation. He was Pyrrha’s partner. And she was also an expert at that. So now, for the sake of her new friend, she had recently found herself locked in a kindness cage match, where both contenders gave a genuine compliment in the same breath as they ignored one directed at them. Much to her… irritation(?) Pyrrha was losing. But the war had just begun.

“Well, they say that there’s no such thing as an original idea, that everything is inspired by something else. So well you might be right that it wasn’t original, your ability to draw from those sources so quickly really is impressive, Jaune.”

Jaune laughed and scratched his neck. “Well, y’know, when you’re as dumb as I am, you have to be able to think quick on your feet, at least.”

Pyrrha narrowed her eyes slightly. It was like talking to a brick wall. A cute, warm and gentle brick wall. But just as she was about to smash the pickaxe of pleasantries into said wall, both were startled by a triumphant laugh echoing down the hall. They turned the corner to see Weiss, triumphantly pointing a finger at Ruby.

“So you DID have some sort of business you were trying to sell me!”

Pyrrha had half a mind to turn around and go the long way to their next class, but the other half was intrigued. Weiss was always somewhat subdued, or at the very least, tried to avoid “unwanted attention from the masses” as she called it, but here she was, getting into an argument in the middle of the hallway, and it appeared she hadn’t even noticed. Interesting.

“Oof, getting chewed out by the hottest girl in school,” Jaune muttered. “I’m getting middle school flashbacks here. Second-hand embarrassment is a cruel mistress.”

Pyrrha, had of course, never discussed romantic things much with anybody. Talking about crushes with Jaune would be rather awkward. Nora seemed to have her love life sorted out, and no one on the track team ever talked about that sort of thing with her. And she wasn’t so shallow as to think that just because Jaune thought that Weiss was the… most attractive girl in school that that meant he had a crush on her or anything. Not that Jaune’s love life was any business of hers, of course. She wouldn’t even have a problem if he did have a crush on Weiss. She had no idea why she was thinking it would be a problem, because it wasn’t. Right, this sort of thing was honestly just rude to think about, so she should probably just stop thinking about it. Right now. Through great mental effort, Pyrrha shoved those thoughts away, only to realize that she had never stopped walking towards them.

“-promise you, Ruby, if I did lose a business prospect, it certainly wasn’t one worth having.”

“Oh well, I wouldn’t say that if I were you. I think Ruby would be a delightful business partner to have,” Pyrrha chimed in. She didn’t much like the idea of Weiss looking down on Ruby. Honestly, she didn’t much like the idea of Weiss.

“Aw, thanks, Pyrrha. See, Weiss? Pyrrha thinks I’d be a good business partner. And she’s the team captain, which is basically a manager, so I’m basically co-manager. So yeah, total business prospect.”

Pyrrha felt it best she didn’t respond to that. Weiss turned to her. “Oh, Pyrrha you’ll have to forgive me, Ruby and I were just having a slight disagreement on the importance of social activities.”

“Oh, I think they’re incredibly important,” Pyrrha remarked, speaking louder than she intended to. ”After all, it would be unwise to simply judge someone on a first impression, wouldn’t you think?”

“See, that’s what I’m saying!” Ruby agreed. “Tsk, tsk, Weiss.”

Pyrrha could that the smile Weiss had summoned in her presence was quickly losing in favor of a glare at Ruby. “Well, it’s not like I was saying that it had no merit, I merely wanted to reiterate that our priority should be our education. Since we are currently at school.”

Ah, pieces were coming together for Pyrrha. From what she knew, Ruby and Jaune were of a similar academic disposition, but where Jaune drew inward, Ruby sought outward for her entertainment, a natural opposite to Weiss. “Pretty close-minded of you to make assumptions Weiss," Ruby continued. "You don’t even know what eating lunch with us is like. C’mon, just once, It’ll be great! You’ll be able to chat with Pyrrha and me at once, so that’s double the usual amount of people you know.”

Weiss ignored the fact that Ruby just said she only knew two people at this school. “You eat lunch with Pyrrha?” She refused to believe that the intelligent, Olympic-level athlete/commercial star ate lunch at the same table as the girl who giggled to herself whenever their teacher mentioned _homo erectus_.

“Yup! One big ol’ pile of friendship that you’re just missing out on, Weiss. But hey, if you wanna go over our notes on the Prolific Age go right ahead.”

“Paleolithic,” Weiss corrected instinctively. She was still reeling from this news. Pyrrha almost never ate lunch with her, but she ate with Ruby willingly? Something had to be up. “But since you’re being so obnoxiously insistent, I suppose it’s in my best interests to eat lunch with you just to get you off my back.”

“YES!” Ruby cheered. Weiss was taken aback. “You won’t regret it, Weiss! One day, you’ll back on this and be like, ‘Man, it was such a good idea to hang out with Ruby’ I promise!”

Weiss imagine that Ruby was the kind of girl that didn't keep promises. Well, if she wasn't, she was certainly about to be.


End file.
